The University of Southern Maine held its commencement ceremony inside the newly renovated Cumberland County Civic Center, where about 880 of their 1,600 graduating students were handed diplomas.

The ceremony comes at the tail end of a week-long celebration of the senior class.

"You think about that our students have worked so hard to get to this point and managing lives outside of their classroom and their every day lives," said Christopher O'Connor, USM's director of student life. "So today is all about celebrating what they've accomplished and kind of moving on to the next step."

The school brought in Idexx Laboratories founder David Shaw to deliver the commencement address.

Other colleges and universities around the state held their graduation ceremonies this weekend as well, including the University of Maine in Orono, UMaine-Augusta. UMaine-Fort Kent, Unity College and Husson University.